Dr. Dre
Dr. Dre Andre Romelle Young (born February 18, 1965), better known by his stage name Dr. Dre, is an American rapper, record producer and entrepreneur. He is the founder and CEO of Aftermath Entertainment and Beats Electronics, and was previously co-owner of Death Row Records. He has produced albums for and overseen the careers of many rappers, including 2Pac, The D.O.C., Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Xzibit, Knoc-turn'al, 50 Cent, The Game, and Kendrick Lamar. He is credited as a key figure in the crafting and popularization of West Coast G-funk, a rap style characterized as synthesizer-based with slow, heavy beats. As of 2018, he is the third richest figure in hip hop, with a net worth of $770 million. Dre began his career as a member of the World Class Wreckin' Cru. He found fame with the influential gangsta rap group N.W.A with Eazy-E, Ice Cube, MC Ren, and DJ Yella, which popularized explicit lyrics in rap to detail the violence of street life. His 1992 solo debut The Chronic, released under Death Row Records, made him one of the best-selling American performing artists of 1993, and earned him a Grammy Award for the single "Let Me Ride". That year, he produced Death Row labelmate Snoop Dogg's quadruple platinum debut Doggystyle, and mentored producers such as his step-brother Warren G (leading to the multi-platinum debut Regulate...G Funk Era in 1994) and Snoop Dogg's cousin Daz Dillinger (leading to the double-platinum debut Dogg Food by Tha Dogg Pound in 1995). In 1996, Dr. Dre left Death Row Records to establish his own label, Aftermath Entertainment. He produced a compilation album, Dr. Dre Presents the Aftermath, in 1996, and released a solo album, 2001, in 1999. During the 2000s, Dr. Dre focused on producing other artists, occasionally contributing vocals. Dr. Dre signed Eminem in 1998 and 50 Cent in 2002, and co-produced their albums. He has won six Grammy Awards, including Producer of the Year. Dr. Dre has had acting roles in movies such as Set It Off, The Wash and Training Day. Rolling Stone ranked Dre 56 on their list of "100 Greatest Artists of All Time". Early life Young was born in Compton, California, the first child of Theodore and Verna Young. His middle name, Romelle, is derived from his father's amateur R&B singing group, The Romells. His parents married in 1964, separated in 1968, and divorced in 1972.7–8 His mother later remarried to Curtis Crayon and had three children: sons Jerome and Tyree (both deceased) 7,25 and daughter Shameka. 6–8 In 1976, Young began attending Vanguard Junior High School in Compton, but due to gang violence, he transferred to the safer suburban Roosevelt Junior High School. He lived a few years in Carson during his middle school years. Young has stated that he was mostly raised by his grandmother in New Wilmington Arms housing project in Compton. His mother later married Warren Griffin, whom she met at her new job in Long Beach, which added three stepsisters and one stepbrother to the family; the stepbrother would eventually become rapper Warren G. Young is the cousin of producer Sir Jinx. He attended Centennial High School in Compton during his freshman year in 1979, but transferred to Fremont High School in South Central Los Angeles due to poor grades. Young attempted to enroll in an apprenticeship program at Northrop Aviation Company, but poor grades at school made him ineligible. Thereafter, he focused on his social life and entertainment for the remainder of his high school years. Young fathered a son with Cassandra Joy Greene named Curtis (born December 15, 1981). Curtis was brought up by his mother and first met his father 20 years later, when Curtis became rapper Hood Surgeon. Music career 1984–1985: World Class Wreckin' Cru Inspired by the Grandmaster Flash song "The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel", he often attended a club called Eve After Dark to watch many DJs and rappers performing live. He subsequently became a DJ in the club, initially under the name "Dr. J", based on the nickname of Julius Erving, his favorite basketball player. At the club, he met aspiring rapper Antoine Carraby, later to become member DJ Yella of N.W.A. Soon afterwards he adopted the moniker Dr. Dre, a mix of previous alias Dr. J and his first name, referring to himself as the "Master of Mixology". Eve After Dark had a back room with a small four-track studio. In this studio, Dre and Yella recorded several demos. In their first recording session, they recorded a song entitled "Surgery", with the lyrics "calling Dr. Dre to surgery" serving as the chorus to the song. He later joined the musical group World Class Wreckin' Cru under the independent Kru-Cut Records in 1984. The group would become stars of the electro-hop scene that dominated early 1980s West Coast hip hop. "Surgery", which was officially released after being recorded prior to the group's official formation, would prominently feature Dr. Dre on the turntable. The record would become the group's first hit, selling 50,000 copies within the Compton area. Dr. Dre and DJ Yella also performed mixes for local radio station KDAY, boosting ratings for its afternoon rush-hour show The Traffic Jam. Dr. Dre's earliest recordings were released in 1994 on a compilation titled Concrete Roots. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of the website AllMusic described the compiled music, released "several years before Dre developed a distinctive style", as "surprisingly generic and unengaging" and "for dedicated fans only". His frequent absences from school jeopardized his position as a diver on his school's swim team. After high school, he attended Chester Adult School in Compton following his mother's demands for him to get a job or continue his education. After brief attendance at a radio broadcasting school, he relocated to the residence of his father and residence of his grandparents before returning to his mother's house. He later dropped out of Chester to focus on performing at the Eve's After Dark nightclub. Personal life Relationships and family Dr. Dre has had four sons and two daughters, by five different women. In 1981, Dr. Dre and Cassandra Joy Greene had a son named Curtis Young when Dr. Dre was 16 years old and Greene was 15 years old. Curtis Young is an aspiring rapper who goes by the rap moniker "Hood Surgeon". In 1983, Dr. Dre and Lisa Johnson had a daughter named La Tanya Danielle Young. In 1988, Dr. Dre and Jenita Porter had a son, Andre Young Jr. In 1990, Porter sued Dr. Dre in Orange County Superior Court seeking $5,000 of child support per month. On August 23, 2008, Andre Young Jr. died at the age of 20 at his mother's Woodland Hills home. The coroner determined that he died from an overdose of heroin and morphine. From 1987 to 1996, Dr. Dre dated singer Michel'le, who frequently contributed vocals to Ruthless Records and Death Row Records albums. In 1991, the couple had a son, Marcel.2:53 In 1996, Dr. Dre married Nicole Threatt, the ex-wife of NBA player Sedale Threatt. They have two children together: a son named Truice (born 1997) and a daughter named Truly (born 2001). Tyra Young is another child to Dr. Dre. The identity of her mother is not known but Dre agrees that she is his daughter. Violence against women Dr. Dre has been accused of violence against women in the past. On January 27, 1991, at a music industry party at the Po Na Na Souk club in Hollywood, Dr. Dre assaulted television host Dee Barnes of the Fox television program Pump it Up, because he felt dissatisfied with her news report about the feud between the remaining N.W.A members and Ice Cube. Barnes filed a $22.7 million lawsuit in response to the incident. Subsequently, Dr. Dre was fined $2,500, given two years' probation, ordered to undergo 240 hours of community service, and given a spot on an anti-violence public service announcement on television. The civil suit was settled out of court. Barnes stated that Young "began slamming her face and the right side of her body repeatedly against a wall near the stairway." Dr. Dre later commented "People talk all this shit, but you know, somebody fucks with me, I'm gonna fuck with them. I just did it, you know. Ain't nothing you can do now by talking about it. Besides, it ain't no big thing – I just threw her through a door." In March 2015, singer Michel'le accused him of physical abuse during their time together as a couple, but did not initiate legal action. Former labelmate Tairrie B also claimed that Dre assaulted her at a post-Grammy party in 1990, in response to her track "Ruthless Bitch". During press for the 2015 film Straight Outta Compton, questions about the portrayal and behavior of Dr. Dre and other prominent figures in the rap community about violence against women – and the question about its absence in the film – were raised. The discussion about the film led to Dr. Dre addressing his past behavior in the press. In August 2015, in an interview with Rolling Stone, Dre lamented his abusive past, saying, "I made some fucking horrible mistakes in my life. I was young, fucking stupid. I would say all the allegations aren't true—some of them are. Those are some of the things that I would like to take back. It was really fucked up. But I paid for those mistakes, and there's no way in hell that I will ever make another mistake like that again." In a statement to The New York Times on August 21, 2015, Dre again addressed his abusive past, stating, "Twenty-five years ago I was a young man drinking too much and in over my head with no real structure in my life. However, none of this is an excuse for what I did. I've been married for 19 years and every day I'm working to be a better man for my family, seeking guidance along the way. I'm doing everything I can so I never resemble that man again." He went on to apologize to all the women he abused, saying, "I apologize to the women I've hurt. I deeply regret what I did and know that it has forever impacted all of our lives." Other convictions Dr. Dre pleaded guilty in October 1992 in a case of battery of a police officer and was convicted on two additional battery counts stemming from a brawl in the lobby of the New Orleans hotel in May 1991. On January 10, 1994, Dr. Dre was arrested after leading police on a 90 mph pursuit through Beverly Hills in his 1987 Ferrari. It was revealed Dr. Dre had a blood-alcohol of 0.16, twice the state's legal limit. The conviction violated Dre's battery conviction in 1991 and he was sentenced to eight months in prison in September 1994. Income In 2001, Dr. Dre earned a total of about US$52 million from selling part of his share of Aftermath Entertainment to Interscope Records and his production of such hit songs that year as "Family Affair" by Mary J. Blige. Rolling Stone magazine thus named him the second highest-paid artist of the year. Dr. Dre was ranked 44th in 2004 from earnings of $11.4 million, primarily from production royalties from such projects as albums from G-Unit and D12 and the single "Rich Girl" by singer Gwen Stefani and rapper Eve. Forbes estimated his net worth at US$270 million in 2012. The same publication later reported that he acquired US$110 million via his various endeavors in 2012, making him the highest–paid artist of the year. Income from the 2014 sale of Beats to Apple, contributing to what Forbes termed "the biggest single-year payday of any musician in history", made Dr. Dre the world's richest musical performer of 2015. Suge Knight conspiracy accusation On April 4, 2016, TMZ and the New York Daily News reported that Suge Knight had accused Dre and the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department of a kill-for-hire plot in the 2014 shooting of Knight in club 1 OAK. Discography *Studio albums *The Chronic (1992) *2001 (1999) *Compton (2015) *Soundtrack albums *The Wash (2001) *Collaboration albums *with World Class Wreckin' Cru *World Class (1985) *Rapped in Romance (1986) *with N.W.A. *N.W.A. and the Posse (1987) *Straight Outta Compton (1988) *100 Miles and Runnin' (1990) *Niggaz4Life (1991) Category:1990's rappers Category:1990's hip-hop Category:1980's rappers Category:1980's hip-hop Category:2000's rappers Category:2000's hip-hop Category:2010's rappers Category:2010's Hip-Hop Category:N.W.A Category:Gangsta rap Category:Hip-Hop record producers Category:Father's Category:Billionares Category:Gangsta rappers